The central bank dumped an estimated US$492 million in New Taiwan dollars to curtail strong gains by the local currency yesterday, narrowing the gain from NT$0.191 to NT$0.026 in two minutes before the close, dealers said.
Strong inward remittances by foreign investors and greenback sell orders from exporters propelled the NT dollar to a 30-month high against the US currency.
"This is the way our central bank tells market participants to behave," one dealer said. "But the central bank should know that the tide is changing -- money will keep coming in as investors snap up stocks, because the Taiwanese market is the safest bet when other Asian markets are falling along with the US."
Without confirming or denying that it had intervened to pare the currency's advance, Duann Jin-sheng (
However, he said, "the central bank will take action to maintain market order, should the exchange rate fail to reflect the economic fundamentals."
He said the central bank would "keep a watchful eye out" for money being wired in with the purpose of reaping profits from foreign exchange speculation.
The New Taiwan dollar closed at NT$31.495 against the greenback yesterday, from an intraday high of NT$31.3. Turnover totaled US$1.512 billion, down moderately from US$1.884 billion on Thursday.
A senior bank dealer said a wave of speculation was fueled by central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan's (
The escalating prices of imported commodities increased inflationary pressure on the local economy, pushing the consumer price index up by 4.5 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter last year. The CEPD predicts the inflation rate will hover above 2 percent in the first half of this year, but edge down gradually in the second half.
"The NT dollar is appreciating because the trend of a weak US dollar has been confirmed. This won't change, even if the governor issues a statement to deny that he has said anything positive about the CEPD presentation," the senior dealer said.
Bank dealers said the NT dollar is likely to challenge NT$31.3 again on Monday. The currency has appreciated NT$0.936 against the greenback since the beginning of the year, and NT$0.251 over the past four trading days.
The TAIEX was up 22.78 points yesterday to close at 8,108.71.
Also see: Central bank plans to shuffle officials
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
RSS